Glass melting tank



Feb. 12, 1935. w. A. MORTON GLASS MEL-TING TANK 5 Sheets-Sheet s Ffilefi July 30, 1932 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 12, 1935 v 1,991,331

UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE GLASS MELTING TANK William A. Morton, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Amco, Incorporated, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application July 30, 1932, Serial No. 626,915

10 Claims. (CI. 49-54) v This invention relates to improvements in glass volume of molten glass without reducing the efmelting tanks and it is among the objects therefective melting area which is exposed to the acof to provide a glass melting apparatus in which tion of the flame. the hearth is designed to facilitate the proper In the accompanying drawings constituting a movement of the glass to the working chamber, part hereof in which like reference characters 5 conducive to the reduction of deleterious condesignate like parts: vection currents, and to render the application Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view taken longiof the melting heat more effective on the surface tudinally of a recuperative type glass melting furof the glass. nace embodying the principles of this invention; A further object of the invention is the pro- Figure 2 a horizontal cross-section taken along 10 vision of means for obtaining a higher preheat of the lines II--II of Figure l; the air for supporting combustion in the furnace Figure 3 a vertical sectional view of a portion thereby intensifying the heat application to the of the recuperator structure and tank;

glass in the tank by increasing the flame temper- Figure 4 a transverse vertical cross-sectional l5 ature, economizing on the consumption of fuel, view of the meltingchamber; and accelerating the melting rate of the glass. Figure 5 a similar view of, the melting chamber Still a further object of the invention is the adjacent the recuperator structure; construction of a tank hearth and wall which Figure 6 a cross-sectional view of the hearth shall be provided with means for resisting corwalls showing meansv for cooling the wall joints;

rosion produced by the molten ingredients, par- Figure 7 a cross-section taken on the line VII-- 2 ticularly at high temperatures. VII, Figure 6; and,

In the conventional type of glass melting'fur- Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view of a vertical nace, the hearth and side wall for supporting wall type of tank illustrating means for cooling the glass pool is constructed of refractory mathe wall joints.

terials and is commonly of rectangular form with With reference to the several figures of the a basin of uniform depth into which raw madrawings, the structure therein illustrated comterials are charged in granular and powderous prises a longitudinal hearth-1 for supporting a form. In this type of furnace structure, the perglass pool, having end walls 2 and 3 and a bridge pendicular side walls have a cooling effect on the wall 4, the latter being provided with a throated glass which contacts them causing a temperature passage 5 to prevent the unplained surface glass 6 difference which creates convectional currents in passing from the melting chamber into the workthe glass pool. Such convectional currents mix ing chamber 6.

the surface materials'with the heavier melted The hearth of the tank consists of a plurality glass at the lower depths of the pool and causes of inclined walls 7, Figures 4 and 5, extending unrefined glass to pass into the working chamber longitudinally of the furnace, the walls being resulting in inferior products. inclined to provide a maximum melting surface Also, the vertical side walls of the conventional area for a minimum volume of glass, and the glass melting furnace are subject to a vertical or inclination of the wall further prevents erosive static drilling action by the melting ingredients; action of the metal on the edge of the refractory this occurs where the chemical reactions of the material from which the walls are constructed 40 glass are incompleted and the metal is in contact particularly at the joints of the refractory blocks. with the flux blocks after erosion has penetrated Shutters or louvers 1-a may be employed bea sumcient distance horizontally to entrap the neath the inclined walls 1 to control the temgases and allow them to assume a static position perature of the blocks and hence the glass at under the eroded shelves when this upward dethe point of minimum glass depth. a structive boring action progresses to destroy the The primary purpose of inclining the hearth blocks. This action is observed in all tanks after wall is to prevent the setting up of deleterious the glass is drained therefromconvection currents in the glass mass transverse- In accordance with the present invention, these ly in the pool whereby the unplained glass is difiiculties are overcome by providing a hearth conducted to the more viscous glass at the bot- 5Q st u of substantially -s ap f r supp rtin tom of the tank and is allowed to pass through a glass pool of uniform depth longitudinally of the throat 5 into the working chamber. the furnace. In this way I eliminate the vertical 7 The melting chamber of the furnace is proside blocks which are subject to the destructive vided with a panelled roof 8.constructed of tile boring. I also form a less costly tank having less or panels formed of sillimanlte or mullite, a high- 1y refractory material, and the panels are relatively thin thereby permitting a greater loss of heat by radiation into the chamber 9 formed by an outer wall 10, this chamber being the preheat chamber through which the air utilized in support of combustion passes to the combustion compartments 11. The radiation losses from the wall 10 are less than in the ordinary furnace when the single outer wall is exposed to the radiant action of the melting heat. In my arrangement, I collect this radiant energy in the preheating air, raise the preheat temperature abovethat of the ordinary furnace, obtain increased preheat and therefore higher flame temperatures which increases the rate of glass melting above the ordinary furnace.

The space between the inner or panel wall 8 and the outer wall 10 is entirely closed with the exception of an opening adjacent ,a recuperator structure generally designated by the reference numeral 12 which extends upwardly from the melting chamber at the charging end of the furnace.

The open construction of the recuperator above the melting chamber is no part of the present invention, but one feature of the. invention is thQPI'OVi-SiOIl of a jack arch 13 for supporting the recuperator tile, which arch is provided with cooling means. In Figure the arch is illustrated as provided with water pipes 14 provided with valves 15 to regulate the flow of the cooling medium through the arch as required, and it is apparent that instead of the water cooling system, air cooled conduits may be employed.

The recuperator structure comprises a series of tile constructed to provide vertical passages 16 through which the waste gases from the-melting chamber pass upwardly into an accumulating chamber '17 from which they pass to a damper regulated stack 18. 4

A series of horizontal passages 19 in heat exchange relation with the vertical passages 16 conduct the air to be preheated through the successive horizontal passages into the chamber 9 directly above the melting chamber.

A blower 20 is provided for conducting the air .under pressure through the recuperator tilestructure into the chamber 9, and a by-pass conduit 21 is provided whichconduit is regulated by a damper 22 whereby air may be blown directly through the by-pass into chamber 9 instead of to the recuperator tile structure when it is desired to raise the temperature of the tile in the recuperator for the purpose of melting off the flux material which may adhere thereto. As shown in Figure 3 of the drawings the blower 20 may be provided with a conduit 23 which extends to'the bottom of the recuperator to a hollow wall 24 whereby air drawn into the recuperator is preheated before it passes to the horizontal passages 19 as explained in connection with Figure 1 of the drawings.

With reference to Figures .2 and 4, a series of combustion compartments 11 are provided in the side wall of the melting chamber and ports 26 are providedin the side wall for fuel burners 27. There are shown a series of two or three burners forming a bank which are separately controlled by valves 28 to regulate the fuel entering from the'fuel supply line 29 to the combustion compartments 11 adjacent the surface) of the glass pool as shown in Figure 1 of the drawings.

By employing the banks of burners in the manner shown a wide range of heat regulation may be obtained.

In Figures 6 to 8 inclusive of the drawings, the hearth walls are shown of sectional form with the flux of refractory blocks 30, Figures 6 and 7, retaining the glass each provided with a cooling chamber 31 having a conduit 32 disposed therein to cause a cooling fluid to be circulated at the joints of the blocks. By cooling the joints, which are the points where drilling or erosion mostly occurs, the erosive action is greatly reduced since the gases or chemicals acting on the blocks are less effective at lower temperatures. The coolers are advantageous in extending the life of the flux linings and are applicable to all forms of furnaces but are'particularly advantageous where portions of the pool are relatively shallow.

In Figure 8, the cooling of the joints is applied to the conventional square tank furnace and is more essential because of the vertical disposition of the tank walls 33.

The operation of the above described apparatus is briefly as follows: The batch material, which consists of granular and powderous ingradients and fluxes is fed into the melting chamber in the region of the recuperator, and the waste gases from the combustion compartments 11 pass rearwardly and out through the vertical passages 19 of the recuperator, and in passing engage the dust produced by the batch entering the furnace and draw it into the recuperator instead of permitting it to pass forward in the furnace and settle on the refined glass at the top end of the furnace.

By utilizing the panel roof structure 8 as described in connection with Figure 1, the chamber 9 is intensely heated and the preheated air from the recuperator structure passing into chamber 9 is increased in temperature to such an extent that the heat applied to the melting chamber can i actionas produced by heat is controlled so asto minimize the promotion of convection currents which would cause an intermingling of the plained bottom glass with the unmelted surface glass which has been the source of great difliculties in glass manufacture.

A cooling medium such as air is circulated in conduits 32 to cool .the joints although obviously water may be employed as the cooling medium.

It is evident from the foregoing description of the invention that the employment of the inclined hearth wall, less area of contact is made with the glass without reducing the melting capacity of the furnace, and consequently there is less erosive action on the glass supporting surface.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination in an industrial furnace, of a hearth, a combustion chamber over the hearth, a' continuous heat exchanger over the nace having combustion compartments in communication with the space formed by said inner wall.

4. In a glass melting furnace a longitudinal tank comprising a hearth having inclined walls;

a plurality of combustion compartments disposed in spaced relation at the top of said hearth walls and a double crown bridging the side walls, the inner wall of which comprises a panel structure of relatively thin tile, said double crown being closed at one end at the refining area of said melting chamber and leading to the preheated air passages of a recuperator at its other end' and forming a space in communication with said combustion compartments.

5. A glass melting tank comprising a rectangular wall structure having a bridge wall dividing it into a melting chamber and a refining cham; ber, a hearth having inclined walls extending longitudinally of said chambers, a double arch crown extending a minimum distance above the top of the inclined hearth wall having side openings forming combustion chambers, the inner arch of which comprising relatively thin panel tile to effeet heat exchange relation between the interior of the melting chamber and the. space between said crown.

6. In a glass melting furnace, a heating chamber, a hearth extending the length of said chamber, and firing ports at the sides of said chamber adjacent the hearth, said hearth being of V- shaped cross-section transversely to the longitudinal flow axis of the melted glass to support a glass pool of maximum surface area and maximum depth for a relatively small volume of glass mass, and the inclination of the hearth wall extending from the bottom in the center of the pool to a height below the burner ports in the side walls.

'7. In a glass melting furnace, a heating chamber, a hearth extending the length of said chamber, a heat exchanger having its waste gas passages open to a portion of said chamber, a root extending from said heat exchanger to the op-' posite end of said chamber, and a relatively thin partition wall between said roof and chamber forming a space for preheated air above the chamber, said air space being in heat exchange relation with said heating chamber through the said partition wall.

8. In a glass melting furnace, a heating chamber, a hearth extending the length of said chamber, a heat exchanger having its waste gas passages open to a portion of said chamber, a roof extending from said heat exchanger to the opposite end of said chamber, a relatively thin partition wall between said roof and chamber forming a space for preheated air above the chamber, and burner ports in longitudinally spaced relation on the side walls of said furnace below said partition wall and coextensive therewith, the air space above said partition wall communicating at one'end with the preheated air passage of said heat exchanger and being in further communication with said firing ports.

9. In a glass melting furnace, a heating chamher, a hearth extending the length of said chamber, a plurality of burner ports provided longitudinally in the side walls of said chamber, said hearth being constituted of inclined walls diverging outwardly from the bottom to the side walls of the chamber above the level of the glass pool and being constructed of a plurality of refractory blocks assembled to form a jointed wall, the blocks being recessed at one end to form a pocket with the face of adjacent blocks for applying a cooling medium to the joints.

10. In a glass melting furnace, a heating chamand a constricted opening in the bridge wall at the apex of said hearth for directing the flow of glass from the melting to the refining chambers at the bottom thereof.

. A. MORTON. 

